Paladin
by Saturn's Spawn
Summary: A murderer and a thief in his past life, Bakura is reincarnated with only one catch: Protect Hotaru at all cost. Hotaru/Bakura AU
1. Prologue

Prologue

The romantic idea of causing chaos had crossed my mind more than once. In fact, if truth be told, I've had several ideas in mind that would have been quite entertaining to put in motion. A subtle, but painful, jab to my arm drew me away from my thoughts. I clenched my teeth, trying to keep my ire in abeyance.

"Bakura," an irritated voice chastised, as though its owner knew my thoughts, which might very well be the case.

"Minako," I responded with a blank face.

"You shouldn't waste a second chance."

My grin was sardonic. Somewhere, far beyond the realm of human comprehension, an insane deity obviously felt pity for me and gave me a second chance at life. Monster that I am, I was still grateful enough to appreciate my gift—if it could be called that. "I wouldn't dream of it, little Mina."

She grimaced as she turned away, looking down at the high school students below from her place on the school's roof. Silly me for believing that Minako didn't know what I was thinking. She knew me better than anyone and did her very best to keep me _grounded_. In other words, no doing anything that would be legally unacceptable. What a shame. I hadn't noticed her azure eyes staring at a scrape I received from _persuading_ a certain suitor of hers to leave her alone until I felt her accusatory eyes on me. I only shrugged in response. Let people think I'm either a possessive boyfriend or an overbearing brother. I can assure you that I am neither.

And just what were we to each other, many of our fellow peers would wonder when they thought we weren't looking, as if not seeing our eyes would reveal the answer to some secret. Of course, who would believe that Minako and I were reincarnations of a victim and her murderer, both turned into mutual friends in this modern age? Absolutely ridiculous. I grinned.

However, as a general rule, we tried not to dwell on our previous lives. It put a strain on the odd comradeship we have.

Now, before you assume that I take delight in the act of murder on a regular basis, I don't. Believe it or not, Minako was only the second person I killed in my old life. No, it's more of the thrill of a good game that excites me. The ability to elude the law for as long as I had. You'd think I would end up in a very, very bad level of Hades, but like I said, that deity was probably insane. Or drunk.

However, I wasn't reborn without stipulation like I was led to believe. Goody-two-shoes that she is, Minako didn't mind the price for being given the chance to live again.

Suddenly, a loud snarl caught my attention. This was the stipulation as given by the great gods above, "Protect Hotaru Tomoe at all costs."

* * *

**Saturn's Spawn**: I know. I'm a very horrible horrible person for starting a new story when I have like fifty-thousand other projects going on at the same time, but I couldn't resist this idea. It's really more of a practice for writing in first person pov. I'm keeping it at Bakura's for now, but I might branch off.

**Shinpi**: Who knows. I might even make an appearance.

**Saturn's Spawn**: Go away. Anyways, I hope you like this and review because reviews make me happy :)


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or Yu-Gi-Oh.

Chapter 1

The other students had scattered upon the arrival of a monstrous harpy-like creature. She would have passed off for a beautiful woman had it not been for the pale blue skin and the wings of scales; and she had Hotaru cornered at the side of the building. Minako had left to take care of the students while I looked for the quickest route down.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tree whose branch had reached the roof upon which I was standing. I made a mad dash for the tree and leaped to the branch. I could already hear Minako admonishing me for my "reckless behavior," but I would deal with her later.

When I reached the ground, I pulled out the handgun I carried with me (for protective purposes, I can assure you) and aimed between the shoulder blades. I knew the first shot wouldn't do anything more than garner her attention, but that was all I needed so I pulled the trigger. As expected, the harpy turned herself around. Right where its heart would be, a multi-faceted emerald jewel was impressed on her body.

I pulled the trigger again and the next sound I heard was the shattering of the jewel.

As quickly as the harpy appeared, she disappeared once I shot the jewel. Tucking my revolver away, I walked casually, with hands in my pockets, up to Hotaru. She sat on the ground with a dazed look on her face. This entire scene was all too familiar.

I heard footsteps approaching, and, without looking away from the violet-eyed girl, I asked, "Did you get all of them?"

Minako answered cheerfully, "Yep. They're all gonna wake up with a headache, but no one will remember anything."

With that said, I turned to look over my shoulder. "Good. Just take care of her and we can call it a day."

Hotaru, having somewhat pulled herself out of her daze, looked from me to Minako and pressed herself closer to the wall. She seemed terrified. Not that I would blame her after having almost died…again.

Minako childishly crossed her arms and started tapping her foot, "Why should I have to do this when she's _your_ mission." She continued ranting about how I had to be more mindful of my duties, but whatever she said fell on deaf ears because I was already walking away. Minako seemed to realize it because I noticed an orange flash coming from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to find Hotaru fast asleep and Minako running to catch up with me.

By the time everyone would wake up, the school day would be over so there was really no point in sticking around.

----

Fortunately, the apartment Minako and I shared was within walking distance. Minako stretched her arms above her head before she collapsed on the couch. Rolling my eyes at her, I walked over to our small refrigerator and pulled out a soda can and a water bottle, which I haphazardly threw at her.

"Ow! Bakura!" I looked up and saw her rubbing the top of her head while giving me a glare.

I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the situation. After all, in our past lives, I was the one who killed her. I really should have known that it would have backfired on me given that her boyfriend at the time was a police officer. Just infuriate her even more, I just casually walked over to the couch, plopped down, and turned the TV on. She was still glaring at me as I was flipping through the channels. (Fact: Minako hates channel surfing for the sake of channel surfing)

She gave up on trying to intimidate me into apologizing and settled for stealing the remote out of my hand. I didn't fight her.

Watching Minako watch TV was interesting and insipid at times. She gave each show the benefit of the doubt, despite knowing she wouldn't like it, and waited a whole thirty seconds before turning to the next channel. Finally, she settled on one of those melodramatic soap operas where a man broke up with the love of his life and decided to get back together only to find out that it was her evil twin out for revenge. Pathetic.

"These attacks are becoming more frequent," Minako stated without taking her eyes off the surprised look on the actor's face when he finds out that his _girlfriend_ wasn't really his girlfriend.

"I'd be out of a job if they stopped." She was right though. They were becoming more frequent. Someone out there really wanted this shy, insignificant wallflower dead.

"Shouldn't you be trying to find out who's causing these attacks and why?"

"You seem to mistake me for one of those heroic types. They're the ones who would take the time to make the effort."

She turned to me with one eyebrow raised, "You're telling me that you're ok with putting your life on the line without a reason?"

"My reason is because the god who gave me a second chance at life said that it's mine as long as I protect Hotaru at all costs." Pfft. Some god. He's a con artist, a crafty con artist who knew I wouldn't do this if given the choice. Over the years, I had come to the conclusion that I was born the first time just so that I could die and come back with a debt hanging over my head. "By the way, it's your fault."

Both her eyes brows shot up into her hairline. "My fault? How is it my fault?!"

"If you weren't such a goody-two shoes and tried to stop me, I wouldn't have been forced to kill you that night, thus incurring your lover's wrath." It made perfect sense to me, although it probably had something to do with the fact that the idiot was lucky I had a cold that night, but I had no pressing need to tell her that.

She stared at me incredulously, trying to make sense of my twisted logic. Then a look of comprehension spread across her face as though she had an epiphany. It made me worry.

"You like her."

Damn.

"No, I don't."

"You like her a lot."

"You're delusional."

"And you don't want to admit it because you're afraid she won't like you back." I could feel her laughing and I only scowled in turn.

"I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to live vicariously through me."

And yet she still smiled that annoyingly knowing smile. I entertained the thought of killing again.

"Killing me would be a horrible thing to tell her when you two are bearing your souls."

My hand was slowly inching toward the handgun.

"You'll actually have to handle her the next time she's attacked." My hand stopped. "Not that it would be a bad thing. She'll look at you like you're a knight in shining armor, and you two will gaze into each other's eyes. Oh, it's all so romantic." I could see the stars shining in her eyes.

"Next time a rampaging monster is headed your way, I won't stop it. In fact, I'll be cheering it on." Not that that was actually true. Life would become unbearable without someone who actually knew the real me.

"Like you ever tried to save me anyway."

"I won't help you with your math homework."

"You're a cruel and evil man, Bakura."

I felt the corners of my lips curl upward into a smirk. "I try, Mina."


End file.
